1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to connectors, and, more particularly, to a connector for electrically coupling one or more devices in a processor-based system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, electrical devices, such as processor-based systems, are comprised of printed circuit boards (PCBs). These PCBs are commonly electrically coupled together via a variety of connectors. In addition to the ability to electrically interconnect the PCBs, a connector may also allow a system designer to physically restrain and orient the PCBs in any desirable manner relative to other PCBs within a processor-board system. Orientation of the PCBs, relative to one another or other devices, may be of particular interest to system designers of server systems, which may include numerous PCBs that interface with each other within a finite amount of space available in the system cabinet or housing of the server systems.
It is generally desirable to construct system cabinets of server systems to a certain, pre-selected size for delivery and installation reasons. This may be particularly true for physically large-sized server systems, such as mid-range server systems or large-scale server systems. As an example, for server systems that are relatively large in size, it is useful to design the cabinet's overall dimension so that the cabinet may pass through conventionally sized hallways, doors, elevator openings, and so forth.
A single mid-range server system, for example, may have a plurality of system boards that may be configured as one or more domains, where a domain, for instance, may act as a separate machine by running its own instance of an operating system to perform one or more of the configured tasks.
The benefits of providing substantially independently operating domains within an integrated system become readily apparent as customers are able to perform a variety of tasks that would otherwise be reserved for several different machines. However, because of the large number of boards that may exist within such systems, it may be desirable to have connectors that allow one or more boards to be efficiently oriented or positioned relative to each other within the system cabinet.